SMS for Politics

SMS for Politics

In today’s world, almost every nation is a democracy. It’s the 21st Century and the world is moving towards modernization and equality. That means whether you’re rich or poor, tied to the community or not, your vote counts just as much as the next person. And that is where SMS for politics comes in. Politicians and campaigns use SMS as a form of communication to persuade eligible citizens to vote for them.

Getting started

SMS for politics has gained increasing popularity in the past few years as mobile marketing is termed as one of the most effective methods of communication. However, there are some things you need to keep in mind when setting up SMS for your political campaign. Did you know that Trump’s campaign faced a million-dollar class-action lawsuit because of their SMS Campaign? Turned out, they didn’t ask users for permission and sent them texts that they did not sign up for. So the first thing you need to do is conduct an SMS Campaign.

SMS Campaign

Why can’t we all just use our high tech smartphones to send a text message to a large number of users through broadcast lists? Well, because our phones themselves do not support SMS Campaigns and also because we require features to track and enhance our campaign. That’s why SMS Platforms were introduced. SMS Platforms allow you to send mass text messages and conduct SMS Campaigns. So the first thing you need to do is sign up with an SMS Platform. Don’t know of any? Choose ExpressText! It’s the best place for beginners with all the help videos that it provides at each step. It’s also really easy to use and has some of the most famous multinational companies as its users. Anyhow, once you’ve signed up with a platform you’ll need to choose two things: a payment plan and adding a contact list. You can either upload contacts, manually add them or use a web widget that will automatically save data that customers fill online. As for a payment plan, most platforms offer a number of packages to choose from and political campaigns can pick one based on the size of their campaign. A local election won’t require too much heavy usage whereas, for a state or presidential election, you’ll obviously have to go for the biggest packages being offered.

Components

Once you’ve selected a payment option, you’ll need to conduct your SMS Campaign. You’ll get around 5-10 keywords with your package and a unique shortcode or long code. Whichever code you get will be the official number through which you’re contacting voters. If you need to use this number for multiple purposes such as calls, faxes, texts etc. it’s best to go with a long code as it supports all these functions. With a shortcode, you’d have to issue another number that supports call and other functions. However, if you’re focusing entirely on text messaging, you should go with a shortcode because it is easier for voters so remember and advertising will be more effective. Thus, more voters will subscribe to the campaign. If you’re part of a state election, you can use keywords based upon district numbers or names. This way, it’ll become even easier for voters to learn how to subscribe to the campaign. A shortcode is a 5-6 digit number so wherever they see it they can simply memorize it and then send in their district code/name/number (whichever is the keyword) and thus, be able to receive promotional messages from the political party.

How to make the most of it

Speed 

The sole reason for the popularity of SMS is its speed. It is a well-known fact that 98% of text messages are opened and read. Statistics also show that most messages are read within minutes of receiving them and that it takes just 5 seconds to read a text. So take advantage of the immediacy of text messaging. No more preplanning; you can be spontaneous and reach your voters at any time. Suppose there has been a shooting somewhere. You want to condemn the attack to get voters on your side, but time is of the essence. The hours right after the shooting are most crucial as emotions are running high and people need to vent. So instead of just condemning the situation on Twitter, send out emergency text alerts to all voting citizens and ask them to join you for a protest or vigil for the victims and martyrs. Many voters will see this as a sign of humanity and standing up as one nation which will sway a lot of votes to your side. Political campaign SMS doesn’t require internet connection making it a fast and reliable method.

Short Links

Again, if you’re holding a rally, a protest or any such event, you could use a short link in your text message to direct voters to your location. Even though such events are held at popular public locations, creating convenience for your voters is always appreciated. Moreover, mass text messaging is a great way to ask for donations, which is a major reason why it has become so popular in the field of politics. So every time you ask for a donation, you can add a hyperlink which can be used for multiple purposes. Either it can direct donors to the website where they can donate or their bank app. If the process is that simple, voters will be more inclined to donate even if it is a small amount. Also, make sure you thank each and every voter who donates to your campaign as they will want to feel valued after investing in you.

Cost

One of the best things about SMS is that it cuts down greatly on costs. The time when you had to spend thousands of dollars on focus groups, polling, research and collecting donations is long gone. You could send out thousands of political SMS messages at same time with all kinds of enhanced features and it wouldn’t even cost you half the amount that it would with conventional methods. Bulk SMS for political campaign will help you minimize cost and you can use your remaining budget to do something else to help you win.

However, if your campaign is still running low on funds despite using SMS, you can do two things. Firstly, you can collect feedback and use it to improve your campaign. Graphed reports will show you where your campaign is doing well and where it isn’t doing well. Rule out any numbers that consistently do not open the text messages they receive. Cut down on any unnecessary advertising and switch to cheaper methods. Advertise your SMS Campaign via email, social media and text instead of conventional platforms like billboards which will cost you hundreds of dollars per day. Moreover, you could switch to long codes in order to bring down your costs. They are comparatively cheaper than short codes and support more functions so you could use one number for all purposes. This way, you’d have to raise less capital to run your political campaign and by reducing SMS costs, you can better spend money elsewhere, because really, there can never be enough money to run a political campaign.

2-way communication

One way communication is so impersonal. You can view the billboard and TVC ads but can you respond to them? No. Digital methods of marketing like social media and text allow for mass advertising which is also personalised! (Yes, you get the best of both). Anyhow, there are many SMS Platforms that allow for 2-way communication through both short codes and long codes. For a political campaign, you can use this strategically to your advantage. Use campaign volunteers to converse with voters and give them logical and rational reasons as to why they should vote for the candidate. In fact, if you did this via calls, people would not be so responsive but texting has remained a trend and form of communication that everyone is willing to converse through. You can use 24-hour assistance so that voters can contact you whenever. Express Text has a mass text messaging app so volunteers can sit at home and converse with voters through their mobile phones making political SMS marketing easy and stress free. If voters see an effort on your part, they will be more willing to vote for you.

Message forwarding

Suppose you just got a text from the candidate that you and your friends support. You’re 19, this is your first election and you are all for the enthusiasm that comes during election time. The text you just received is about a rally being held tomorrow. It contains all the details relevant to the time and location of the rally and you want your friends to go with you. Just forward the message to them! This is a feature that does half the job for you, thus saving you time and cost. If you send out political SMS to a thousand people and even if a 100 of these people forward the text to their contacts, you’d be reaching double the amount of people with only half the effort! Another way that message forwarding is useful for political campaigns is that you can choose to have all voter messages forwarded to your mobile phone from your account. This way, you’ll be updated on all new messages without even having to open your account and you can access and respond to important information instantly.

Accessibility

While the exclusivity of SMS is great because it gives a personalized touch and you can interact with voters one-on-one, it is still important to integrate all digital platforms. Social media is great for videos and pictures that give all political updates on current events. Similarly, SMS and calls are good for collecting donations. Since every platform has its own strong point, using one single platform will not suffice. SMS gateways like ExpressText allow for smooth and easy integration between text messaging and other apps which make all of our lives easier. Suppose you want to make a donation to a political campaign. The said campaign has integrated PayPal with SMS so with one click on the hyperlink within the SMS (asking for donations) you will be directed to the PayPal app on your phone and all you have to do is enter the amount and press send.

24-hour support

You’d be surprised at how important this can be. Taking Hilary Clinton’s example, even though she didn’t win the 2016 US presidential election, her 24 hour SMS hotline helped her gain a massive amount of votes. Hotlines and emergency assistance can be very important when dealing with minority voter groups. People can report any kind of abuse instantly by texting it to the campaign’s shortcode. If you work this hard to gain people’s trust, they themselves will want to see you at the top. 

I think we’ve established quite strongly that SMS for politics is an essential part of political campaigning. It’ll maximize your voter share, cut down vastly on costs and it is extremely easy to use. Except for having to gain the consent of voters and getting them to subscribe through proper channels, there is no challenge or drawback to SMS. It is one platform that offers all the features that you will require for good marketing. So if you’re thinking of adding SMS to your political marketing strategy, think no more and take that step!

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